SUMMARY: As summer ends, students and teachers at Raymond Elementary in D.C. prepare excitedly for the new school year. The school boasts a brand-new playground and courtyard, with dedicated staff like Miss Tracee Robinson, a second-grade teacher known for her “Not Like Us” rap parody. Teacher Alexandria Henderson has a DonorsChoose wishlist totaling over $1,100, including carpets, headphones, and snacks. Thanks to Pepco’s $1,100 donation, her wishlist is fully funded. Principal Miss Hubbard and the community express gratitude as the school gears up for Monday’s first day, celebrating support from NBC4, Telemundo 44, and corporate partners.

News4’s Molette Green helps get Raymond Elementary hyped for school with a longtime teacher’s rap and a big donation for supplies.
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by Charlotte Rene Woods and Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
August 25, 2025

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has ordered state police to investigate explosive allegations from a conservative blog that Fairfax County Public Schools officials helped multiple underage girls obtain abortions in 2021 — a probe whose findings may not surface before Election Day but could still sway voters in the court of public opinion. 

Virginia law requires minors to obtain either parental consent or a successful court petition to undergo the procedure. Such records are also exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. 

The Mercury asked the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court whether any petitions were filed at all in 2021 and how many have been filed in subsequent years, which they did not provide.

Still, the possibility that a public school broke state law and bypassed parents’ consent rights is quickly becoming a political talking point for Republican candidates this year.

Against the backdrop of an ongoing effort to enshrine reproductive rights into Virginia’s constitution, Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has seized on the allegations. 

At a recent campaign event in Chesterfield County, she welcomed the story’s circulation in the news cycle. 

“I don’t know if you also saw what’s happening in Northern Virginia — it’s just a gift that keeps on giving,” Earle-Sears said as the crowd laughed. 

It cheered after she added: “Parents. Still. Matter.”

Political analyst Bob Holsworth said the controversy echoes of Youngkin’s successful 2021 campaign, when allegations of a sexual assault in a Loudoun County school bathroom sparked national furor over transgender students’ use of restrooms. 

Investigations and legal proceedings extended well beyond the campaign, but by then “Parents for Youngkin” signs and “parents matter” chants had become staples of his rallies. Youngkin went on to win the governorship, and Republicans flipped the House of Delegates for a term.

“Interestingly, the target audience is not voters in Fairfax and Loudoun,” Holsworth said of the Democratic strongholds, “but Republicans elsewhere in the commonwealth.” 

The allegations first surfaced in WC Dispatch, an Ohio-based conservative blog run by independent investigative journalist Walter Curt Jr. His father, Walter Curt Sr., is a Youngkin appointee to the Virginia State Council of Higher Education and has donated thousands of dollars to both Youngkin and Earle-Sears. Curt Jr. told Virginia Scope that his familiar ties don’t affect his reporting. 

Holsworth suggested that GOP campaigns are aiming to “get these issues aired on Fox News so they can deliver a message across Virginia in a way that Democrats can’t.”

That’s  because the claim itself  — whether ultimately proven or false — is already enough to stoke concerns among some voters about public schools encroaching on parental rights. Defending parental oversight in K-12 education been a consistent Republican theme in Virginia politics.

If the allegation proves true, Earle-Sears has vowed accountability. 

“Your underage daughter can’t get an aspirin without your permission,” she wrote on X on Aug. 19. “Yet a Virginia school may have taken a young girl for an abortion, in secret, using your tax dollars. If true, it’s monstrous, and there will be consequences.”

Pending the outcome of the state police investigation, any responsibility to prosecute would fall to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, who has declined to comment. 

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, noted that the timeline for an investigation is uncertain. While the number of people involved doesn’t appear large he said, the allegation dates back four years —a factor that could complicate evidence gathering and examination. 

Tobias added that Republicans could “make a lot of political hay of it” heading into the elections, especially since Fairfax’s commonwealth’s attorney has been a frequent target of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.  

Miyares, who is up for reelection this year, has long pushed for changes in state law that would allow the state to intervene in local prosecutions and has repeatedly attacked Descano as being too lenient. 

A potential prosecution arising from the Fairfax abortion allegation could even spill into the next gubernatorial term.  

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger is also watching closely. Her campaign said in an email to The Mercury that she “will be monitoring the status of the Virginia State Police’s investigation and will support appropriate action to uphold Virginia law.” 

The campaign also highlighted Spanberger’s perspective as a mother of three young girls who attend public school, adding: “She believes that decisions about a child’s health and safety should always be made between them and their parents.”

Beyond the locality’s prosecutor, Fairfax County Public Schools has become a lightning rod for criticism from parents as well as state and federal leaders.

Among the most polarizing decisions: overhauling admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology to promote greater diversity, and resisting statewide transgender policies that would have required schools to out transgender students or restrict pronoun use.

The division is also arranging a security detail for Superintendent Michelle Reid.

After the abortion allegations surfaced, Reid wrote to the school community that the conduct described “would be unacceptable” in the district. 

“I want to stress that at no time would the situation as described in these allegations be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools,” Reid said.

The school district has also stated that it will “fully cooperate” with the investigation but cannot comment further while it is ongoing. 

Beyond Earle-Sears’ bid for governor and the lieutenant governor and attorney general races, all 100 House of Delegates seats are up for election this year. 

Looming over those contests is an ongoing effort to enshrine reproductive rights — including abortion — into the state’s constitution. The measure must pass the legislature again next year before appearing on a statewide ballot for voter approval or rejection.

While every Republican in the General Assembly voted against the proposal this year, they first attempted to add language reflecting existing state law on minors’ access to abortion. Democrats rejected that effort, pointing out that a U.S. Supreme Court case also affirms parental consent under the 14th Amendment.  

Even so, the possibility that someone may have broken the law in Fairfax is “alarming,” said Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, who is carrying  the Senate version of the reproductive rights amendment.

“We should all be deeply concerned anytime anyone says they have been forced, misled or coerced into life-changing decisions about their reproductive health,” she said. 

While Boysko did not specifically address the amendment in her comments, she added that she is confident the investigation will “shed light on the facts of the case.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.

The post Fairfax abortion allegations fuel new political firestorm in Virginia governor’s race appeared first on virginiamercury.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content presents a detailed account of a politically charged issue involving abortion rights and parental consent in Virginia, highlighting perspectives primarily from Republican figures and conservative sources while also including responses from Democrats. The focus on Republican strategies, conservative media, and parental rights themes, alongside balanced reporting on Democratic reactions and legal context, suggests a center-right leaning. The article does not overtly endorse one side but emphasizes Republican political messaging and concerns, reflecting a moderate conservative viewpoint.

by Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury
August 22, 2025

Virginia is set to receive more than $48 million in federal funding to upgrade infrastructure at 18 airports, part of a nationwide effort to modernize air travel hubs and boost local economies.

The money, awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration, will fund construction projects ranging from runway rehabilitation to new hangars and improved lighting. The funding is made possible in part by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“These investments will help ensure that our airports are a safe, reliable engine of connectivity and economic growth for travelers and communities around the commonwealth,” said U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, D-Va., in a joint statement. 

“We’re going to keep doing all that we can to bring additional infrastructure investments to Virginia, and to reauthorize the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that makes many of them possible.”

The largest awards include $7.2 million for new lighting and a taxiway shift at Winchester Regional Airport, $6.8 million to reconstruct taxiways at Washington Dulles International Airport, and $5.2 million to rehabilitate the runway at Virginia Highlands Airport. 

Other major projects include $4.9 million for runway rehabilitation at Leesburg Executive Airport and $4.7 million to improve the general aviation apron at Newport News-Williamsburg Airport.

Additional funding will support taxiway shifts at Blue Ridge Airport, new hangar construction and runway extensions at Twin County Airport, and a runway extension at Richmond Executive/Chesterfield County Airport. Norfolk International Airport will see $1.6 million to reconstruct a terminal entrance road, while Accomack County Airport will receive $1.4 million for a new taxiway and lighting. 

Smaller projects include hangar development at Mountain Empire, Danville Regional, Emporia-Greensville, and Tazewell County airports; a fuel farm expansion at Hampton Roads Executive Airport; apron improvements at Richmond International Airport; a taxiway update at Suffolk Executive Airport; and rehabilitation work at Front Royal-Warren County Airport.

The announcement follows a string of federal awards directed to Virginia airports over the past year. 

Just last month, Warner and Kaine announced more than $21 million for improvements at 10 airports, including runway rehabilitation in Roanoke and updated lighting systems in Southwest Virginia. In October 2024, they rolled out nearly $57 million in federal funding for revitalization efforts. 

The pace of investment reflects a broader push to modernize Virginia’s aviation system, which includes more than 60 public-use airports ranging from major commercial hubs to small general aviation fields. Federal officials and state lawmakers alike have noted that many facilities — particularly in rural areas — require extensive upgrades to meet safety standards and accommodate future growth.

Airports are more than transit points; they are economic engines. A recent Virginia Department of Aviation study found that the state’s airport system supports more than 146,000 jobs and generates over $23 billion in economic activity annually. 

Improvements to infrastructure are expected to help sustain that impact, particularly as the state competes for tourism, business development, and federal contracts tied to military and defense sectors.

Politically, the investments highlight the dividends of the infrastructure law, a landmark $1.2 trillion piece of legislation passed with backing from Warner and Kaine. The law has funded not only airport upgrades, but also broadband expansion, highway projects, and public transit improvements across Virginia. The senators have made a point of underscoring those returns as Congress debates reauthorization.

Warner and Kaine, both members of key Senate committees, have also framed these airport investments as part of a broader commitment to ensuring rural regions don’t get left behind. While Dulles and Richmond International draw the most passenger traffic, small and regional airports often provide critical services for medevac flights, business travel, and military operations.

For Virginia travelers, most of the changes won’t be immediately visible, but the improvements are designed to set up airports for long-term growth. As Kaine and Warner put it, “These investments will help ensure that our airports are a safe, reliable engine of connectivity and economic growth.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.

The post Virginia airports land $48M in federal funding for upgrades appeared first on virginiamercury.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content highlights federal infrastructure investments championed by Democratic senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, emphasizing the positive economic and community impacts of government funding. The focus on bipartisan infrastructure legislation and rural support reflects a generally favorable view of government intervention and public investment, aligning with center-left perspectives that prioritize infrastructure development and economic equity without strong partisan critique.